Twists, Twins and Turns
by Bookworm2745
Summary: Lillian Black has been stuck in Tony's tower under house arrest following the fight between Iron Man and Captain America. When a strange man with a floating cape shows up saying he needs the help of her superhero alter-ego Black Lily. She gets stuck when fighting Nightmare however and the Maximoff twins must dive in and save her.


**Thank you to Sage Nicholson for suggesting this idea. I had great fun writing this one with my friend Muireann. If anybody else has any suggestions or requests, leave them in the comment secion or pm me. Now, onto the story!**

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The Avengers were no more. My life as a hero had barely begun before I was knocked down to the first rung of the ladder once more. I suppose it was good in a way. I helped Tony in his workshop and around the tower every day but after doing it day in and day out, it grew tiring. I started leaving the tower every other day, using small errands as excuses to get outside. Somebody always came with me; either a SHIELD agent, a Stark Industries security guard, Tony himself or occasionally Peter. They were afraid I was going to run off, after Steve and the rest. I didn't regret my actions and I wasn't going to use my powers to help the government. I only trusted my family, the team, but they had split up and gone their separate ways, leaving me stuck in the middle. In truth, I didn't want to fight against either side but acting as a bridge in the middle wasn't going to help anybody so I chose the side that I felt would allow us to help more people. Tony didn't understand that Bucky was framed but even if Tony did, he was ordered by the government to bring Steve in and he had to do it since he signed the accords. It wasn't fair but it was the way things worked out and so, everybody got locked up or shipped off. Steve broke the others out of prison though, saving Clint, the twins and whoever else was locked in that shitty place. Right now, I was the only one still a prisoner and I was kept under 24 hour surveillance, meaning I had hardly any alone time. Until today.

"Hey Kid!" I looked up at Tony as I threw the tennis ball at my bedroom wall, catching it as it bounced back towards me. "The Agents are out on missions and I need to pop out for a bit to go to a meeting with Pepper. Peter's in school and the others..." Tony was making up excuses as to why I had no babysitters today and I shrugged it off. I wouldn't be able to leave, even if I wanted to. I had no clue where Steve was and I didn't look old enough to get into a hotel or rent an apartment. So I just nodded along to his rules and stared at the ceiling. "Yeah, yeah. Stay in the tower, eat something, stay hydrated. I've got the basics. I'm not going anywhere Stark." He nodded and closed my bedroom door, leaving me alone once more. My room was stripped of anything that could be turned into a potential weapon so there was practically nothing in there. Having the abilities I do will bring on a lot of paranoia. Nobody wants a teenager on the loose when they can control any aspect of energy, see ghosts and spirits and can change almost anything into something completely different. As I lay on the bed, brushing my hair and singing along to songs FRIDAY played for me, there was a noise from behind the door. I ignored it though, thinking that Tony had simply forgotten something and I sang on until the door burst off of it's hinges. I was quick to flip off the bed and grab the person in a chokehold, not aiming to kill but holding on with enough force to ensure they knew I wasn't to be messed with. "Who are you and what do you want?" The man grasped my arm as I tightened my grip on him slightly. "My name is Doctor Stephen Strange. I'm looking for Black Lily." I stared at this strange man with the goatee. "You're looking at her." Suddenly, I was pushed back by an unidentifiable source and I got into a fighting stance, ready to attack. The Doctor guy was being held up by his cloak and he had two magical yellow shield things on his hands. "I'm not here to fight, I came here looking for help. I would ask Steve but he's rather hard to find these days." I took a mental step back at the name but I stayed motionless, not wavering slightly in case it was a ruse. "Look, I've run into the Captain a few times since the events in Germany but this time, he's disappeared. He always spoke about you and how he was trying to figure out a way to get to you up here but never took my help. Yet now, I need your help. To defeat a particular foe of mine, Nightmare. He terrorises people as they sleep and draws power from the psychic energies of their subconscious minds. I've defeated him before but after my last trip to his realm, he managed to find a way that blocked me from ever returning. He's been attacking the minds of most sorcerers that are under my protection in the Institutes around the world." I sighed and stood up normally as Stephen mirrored my actions. "I'll help but I want to be able to go with Steve afterwards, rather than staying stuck in here. Can you do that?" He nodded with a smirk and made some kind of portal thing to the outside of a very old building. "That's the institute. This portal is safe, don't worry." I had no choice but to stay here under SHIELD supervision or trust him and I stepped through to see I was in downtown New York. Goatee Magic Man stepped out of the portal and it disappeared. "This way." he stated. "There's a lot to do and not enough time to do it." So much for staying in the Tower. I followed Mr Goatee into the old, crumbling building

Once inside Goatee Magic Man directed me into a side room. A figure walked out of the shadows and I took a step back, raising my hands to prepare to fight. "Doctor Strange. Steve said you needed help with a threat." I'd recognise that voice anywhere. The twins stepped out of the shadows, along with Hawkeye. I stepped forward, grabbing Pietro's hand and looking up at him with wide eyes. "It's really you." I said in relief that didn't last long, quickly turning into anger and making me push him away. "How could you leave me there! I mean, I knew there was no time to get me out with the guards coming back to the RAFT but Tony said that Clint was under house arrest and he took me with him. You could have gotten me at any time but you still left me there!" Wanda smiled sadly. "We left you to keep you safe. We didn't want you to be stuck as a fugitive with us the whole time." I turned away, looking at Strange who was watching our interaction. "Bullshit. You know what my worst fear is Wanda. I'd rather be a fugitive than be left alone." Wanda nodded. "You had a better time, trust me. We haven't eaten or slept in days." I looked at the three of them closer. They all had dark shadows under their eyes and were much paler then normal. I decided to let it go. I turned to Magic Man. "Have you decided to tell me why you dragged me out of that lovely Tower or are you keeping it in the dark? I hate surprises." He looked at all of us. "We need to enter Nightmare's realm and destroy him before he can do any more damage. Follow me." He walked out of the room. I turned to Pietro. " Just another normal day". He laughed, grabbing my hand as he followers Goatee Magic Man.

Nightmare stood in front of us. He had hair as black as coal and sickly white skin. Shadows wrapped their way around him and his blood red eyes bore into each of us individually. He looked almost like a neat Edward Scissorhands that wore green instead of black. And had red eyes. I shivered when they turned to me. "Fools!" he laughed softly. His voice froze me. "You bring me to the land of the living. Fear is far stronger here. I thought better of you Strange. You are truly desperate." "Enjoy your visit. You won't be staying for very long." Goatee Magic Man reminded me of Stark. Weird. Nightmares eyes blazed for a second, so quick I may have imagined it. Goatee Magic Man was the first to move. Sparks flew as his hands moved at an impossible speed, lashing out at Nightmare, but he was gone. He appeared a second later, laughing softly. God, he was fast. Too fast. Pietro tried to catch him, but Nightmare slipped through his fingers. Wanda shot red spheres toward Nightmare continuously. I turn, trying to guess where he could appear next. This wasn't working. I closed my eyes, feeling the energy flowing around the room. I felt his presence. It wasn't as strong as the other four around me, but I could feel it. His energy wasn't right here, out of place in the physical world. Built up. Suddenly I had an idea. I concentrated on his energy, his presence. Built up, ready to explode. So I let it. I opened my eyes. The last thing I saw of him was his blood red ones. He was gone. Pietro turned to me, they all did. "Is that it? Is it over?" I smiled, happy I could now leave with the three of them. "Yes I-" Suddenly I heard a very similar cold laughter in ear. "Fuck this shit," was all I managed to get out before the darkness took me.

I opened my eyes to a room that was quite similar to the living room of the Tower. Looking around, I realised I was alone and that I was in Nightmare's realm. I went to close my eyes and try to leave this place when I couldn't find anything but I was suddenly transported to a darker room and I cursed loudly. I was done with all this magic shit. I stopped short when I noticed the people in the room though, the Avengers, all of them. My family. Together and happy. They were laughing and joking around and I stood by watching the scene. Until Steve turned around and spotted me. The cruel smirk that plastered his face made me reel back in shock. "Steve?" Then there was a hand around my neck that lifted me up off the ground and I noticed Tony's watch on my assailant's wrist. "No! Please no. Please stop Tony. Let me go!" My words were broken as he tightened his grip. "Eliminate the threat before it can eliminate us." They were the words I had used when we fought against Ultron. My eyes started watering and I knew that I was trapped. Nightmare had me stuck in the horrors of my own mind.

"Did you really think you could save people? After all the deaths you've caused? After all the evil you've done? You don't deserve anything that you have. You think we kept you because we loved you? No. We kept you because we needed you. You were out as soon as we were finished with you." I looked up as tears mixed with blood ran down my face. I had been through so many scenes with the team either beating me up or throwing insults at my face. I sat there as Tony confirmed my thoughts on my uselessness. I stayed kneeling on the floor until his words cut off mid-sentence and the scene changed. I was suddenly standing in an open area of sand, the sun blaring down on me. Turning around, I stumbled backwards and gagged at the unpleasant sight. Blood dyed the sand a dark red colour and bodies littered the ground. I heard a whisper and stumbled over bodies towards the voice, screaming when I realised who it was and what had happened to them. Tony lay half-stuck under the lifeless body of Steve Rogers. "Get away from me! Get away!" Without control of my own body, my hand wrapped around his neck and he started choking. "I'm more powerful than any of you combined. I did this. I've been waiting, plotting against you this whole time and you never even realised it. You're all so stupid and pitiful." My hand started glowing with a familiar black light and the next thing I knew, Tony's head was burnt to a crisp and there was no life left anywhere around me. I spotted my reflection in a pool of blood. My eyes had turned a completely black colour that copied the colour of my magic and again, the only thought going around my head was the words _monster _and_ murderer_. I was a twig waiting to snap. I screamed as the scene shifted again to replay me killing my team and family over and over and over again.

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**Read the author's notes above and below the story. I know you guys won't unless I put something in here!**

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**(3rd**** Person POV)**

Clint and the twins watched over Lillian with worry. She kept moving around as she lay down and she had started to get light bruises as well as small scratches all over her face. Strange stood behind them, looking through every book he had in order to get the twins into their friend's mind without alerting Nightmare. The Sorcerer Supreme was convinced he was almost there and he looked faster through each one. There was a gasp from Wanda and Strange turned to see blood dripping down the sleeping girl's nose as her eye turned purple. Her arm looked bent at an odd angle and other injuries started forming. "I'm almost there, just hang on. I have two more books to look through and I'm 99% sure that the spell is in one of them." Pietro held Lillian's head gently while Clint and Wanda took to cleaning up the bloody mess around the four. The Scarlet Witch was frightened for the girl in front of her. When she was stuck in the darkest parts of her mind after fighting Ultron, it was Lillian who had gotten her out and helped the Sokovian to get back on track. They had bonded and Wanda considered the girl her sister, especially with the relationship Pietro shared with her. She was happy her brother had found somebody with whom he could share his heart and now, the one person who could keep him happy was in trouble and she didn't know how to help. All she could do was wait, and hope that the wizard found a spell before Lillian was broken beyond repair or even dead. "I found it!" Her head turned to Strange as he told Wanda and Pietro to lie down and hold onto Lillian's hand. He muttered some words before looking at them. "Find her and get her out. Make sure you leave Nightmare behind you." They nodded before Strange finished the spell and they disappeared from reality, hoping to save the girl that they both called family.

Wanda opened her eyes to almost complete darkness and panicked momentarily before she heard her name being shouted. "Pietro?" The silver haired speedster ran over to her as she called his name and grabbed her hand in his. "Are we here?" Wanda couldn't answer the question until she spotted a faint light in one direction. "We're here. Come on." She pulled her brother in the direction she was starting to hear thoughts from and they were not pleasant. "She's in trouble. We have to hurry." Pietro decided to scoop up his sister and started running quickly towards the light, and Lillian. He stopped short however when he took in what was happening. Standing in front of the twins was a fake Pietro who towered over their friend. Lillian was standing shakily, blood pooling on the ground as it dripped from her body. Suddenly, the fake Pietro grabbed her hair and kicked her in the stomach, following it with multiple punches to her face. When he let go of her, she fell to the floor, unable to support her own body weight. The twins were stuck still in shock and they just stood watching what happened. That was until the fake Pietro pulled a knife out of thin air. The real speedster's eyes widened and he moved quickly to stop the nightmare but he wasn't fast enough. Just as he came to a stop beside Lillian, his fake doppelgänger had disappeared, leaving a knife stabbed into the girl's chest. "No, no, no, no, no! Lillian!" Pietro sat down by her head and lifted it onto his lap as she looked up at him with a fear in her eyes that broke Pietro's heart in two. "We're real Lillian and we're not here to hurt you. We came to get you out." Wanda knelt down beside her brother as the girl struggled in his grasp, trying to get as far away from the twins as possible. They let her move back as she leaned against a solid wall of darkness. She covered her ears and bent her head into her lap. She kept rocking on her heels and muttering things only barely audible for the twins to hear. "Not again. Please leave me alone. I just wanna go home. I don't care about being left at the tower. Just leave me alone. Please. I don't want to see these anymore." Pietro and Wanda shared a look of worry before Wanda spoke up. "Lillian. It's us. Really, it is. We're here to help you, not hurt you. Please, you're going to die if we don't get you out of here." The girl looked up as tears mixed with the blood around her. She looked directly into their eyes and found the thing she had been searching for in everybody's. Love. She let go of her legs and looked at them carefully, trying to figure out if this was a cruel trick Nightmare was playing on her. She came to the conclusion that it was all very real when they stayed where they were and Pietro opened his arms out to her. She moved towards them but hugged Wanda rather than her boyfriend. He understood it however. He was afraid of himself right now. He had just witnessed something that looked very much like him, stabbing his girlfriend. If the roles were reversed, he was sure that he would do the same.

"Lillian, we need to get you out of here." Her eyes flickered over to him and she took in a sharp breath. "I can't. He keeps throwing me in. He won't just let us leave." Pietro just held out his arms to her and she moved into them, albeit somewhat hesitantly. She knew that these two were real and she just had to overcome that fear and get over it. There was no time to be a scared little child about things. She could deal with it all when they were out of this fucked up realm that had messed with her so much. "Lillian, we need to get rid of that dagger." The girl looked at her chest and realised Wanda was right as the pain started to set in. "Do it quickly." She braced herself as Wanda grabbed the handle and the next thing to happen was screaming filling the air as Wanda opened the wound. "It's going to be okay _моја љубав_. We will keep you safe." Lillian's eyes turned to Pietro as he used her pet name for her. She was still scared that things were going to change and the twins would hurt her like everyone else had but in the end, she knew the best option was to trust them rather than bleeding out here. Her eyes closed as she grabbed Pietro's hand and Wanda stroked her hair gently. She suddenly glanced up, feeling a disturbance in the scenery before seeing it. "Pietro, we have to get her out of here." The silver haired speedster picked up his girlfriend and they turned to leave through the doorway that Strange had provided them with only to find that they couldn't open it. "Strange always sends others to do his work. He shouldn't have sent such a weak minded human to try and take me down." Lillian stirred slightly as her eyes fluttering open, widening as she spotted the red-eyed Edward Scissorhands. "Nightmare." She was still weak but the blood on her skin and hair was starting to disappear and her cuts seemed to be getting healed as stitches appeared on them. She was well enough to move so she stood up with help from Pietro. "You caught me off guard and it won't ever happen again. But I understand now why I think those things and it's all thanks to you." She smiled at him and he frowned. "Those aren't the purpose of my nightmares." Wanda smirked at the villain. "What is then?" He looked up over them, becoming a black shadow ready to crash into them. "To destroy your mind from the inside until all that's left is fear."

**Lillian POV**

I pushed Pietro off me, holding up my hands and turning the shadow wave into light, causing a shriek to be let out from the thing. "Don't wear yourself out _моја љубав_. We do not want you hurt more than you are." Lillian was stuck between Wanda and Pietro as they fought to keep her safe until Wanda managed to grab ahold of Nightmare's core, his brain if that's what you want to call it. She pushed him into his own worst fear and the shadows that had been keeping us stuck here. I watched as Nightmare's realm began to cave in on him and wondered what would be scary enough that nightmares would fear it. Pietro suddenly pulled me through the door and I sat up quickly, my mind being reunited with my body. I assessed my surroundings and calmed once I noticed Pietro and Wanda on beds close to mine. "Lillian." I turned to see Clint standing over me, holding my hand. If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now. Clint was like a father to me when I joined the team and he's acted like it ever since I left my home. The blood transfusions I had gotten at the hospital had somehow either merged with my DNA to give me my powers or I had somehow gotten hold of donated blood from an enhanced individual. I never found out but I was able to learn how to control my powers under the Avengers care with my first mission being to help stop Ultron. From there things had followed out on their own. I met the twins, became best friends with them and then got thrown into the whole accords situation, following Steve to fight against the government and against Tony. Clint even offered for me to come back and live with him on his farm and that invitation extended to Wanda and Pietro as well. But they had obviously been brought there while I was left at the Tower. I faced away from Clint, still not wanting to forgive him even though my heart screamed at me to let it go. "Come on Lillian. I wanted to come back for you but I was on house arrest and if I left, I would have been thrown back into the RAFT. The best thing for me to do in order to help you come home was to wait." I turned, the light shining brighter in my eyes as I spotted Pietro and Wanda standing behind him now. "I'm sorry too. I tried to get Tony to work on your case to let you out but he wouldn't listen to me. He never listened to me when I tried to tell him anything to do with you all." Clint just hugged me, pulling back when I grunted in pain from the wound in my side. I jumped as Doctor Strange appeared beside me, holding a basin of water in his hands. "I used to be a doctor and I still have the knowledge, just not the hands to work with. Clint has been stitching you up but you need to lay down and rest." I sighed and moved back, resting on the large pillows behind me. "Why was I there?" I looked at Pietro and flinched slightly, remembering those blue eyes looking down on me while I was beaten and almost killed. "Lillian?" I felt the tears falling down my face as Wanda grabbed my hand tightly. "I don't want to be left alone again. Don't leave me alone please! I can't- I just can't." Wanda pulled me to her and let me cry into her shirt and I could tell they were all confused as to what had happened. "Lillian, I would never hurt you. You know that right?" I looked up at Pietro and shook my head while allowing him to wrap his arms around me in a hug. "You can't say that. Nobody ever means to hurt the ones they love and who love them but it just happens. It's a part of life. I'm okay now, I really am. I feel better already." I looked around me and moved to stand up on wobbly feet as Pietro held me and for a minute we just looked into each other's eyes until the sound of a door closing got our attention and I realised the other three had gone. "I'm sorry I left you _моја љубав_. I'll never do it again." I smiled and leaned up on the tips of my toes, kissing him gently. "You better not." He laughed and hugged me tighter as the sun fell and the city's artificial light took the sun's place.

(Months later...)

Tony sat on the ground holding a hand to his wound while I looked around at the scenes around me. After reuniting with Steve and the team, Pietro and I left to take down HYDRA on our own. We met Tony along the way who was able to grant us immunity with the government and we stayed with him for a while. Then the aliens came again and we went to space on Thanos's spaceship. We fought against the alien and lost and now we had to hope the others could stop him back on earth. "Something's happening." The alien with the antennas turned to dust and I looked around with wide eyes. The green alien turned to the half-human. "Quill?" Turning to dust as his friend realised what was happening. "Oh man." He too turned to dust and I figured it out. We had lost. All of us. "Tony, there was no other way..." Strange too turned to dust and I hugged Pietro as I faintly heard Peter Parker saying he didn't feel so good. I felt a tingling in my chest, the sign that something really bad was about to happen, and looked at Pietro in alarm only to see he was turning to dust. "I love you Lillian." I just kissed him before the love of my life disappeared and I was left alone with Tony and Nebula. We had lost, and it was all my fault.

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**So, I have a bet with my cousin about which Marvel character is the most popular. Comment your favourite and let me know!**


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